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Fusion Garage has buyers for obsolete JooJoos

JooJoo tablets may live on as specialized devices in vertical industries.

Rafe Needleman Former Editor at Large
Rafe Needleman reviews mobile apps and products for fun, and picks startups apart when he gets bored. He has evaluated thousands of new companies, most of which have since gone out of business.
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Rafe Needleman
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Earlier today an Asian tech blog, e27, moved forward the story of the Fusion Garage JooJoo tablet demise. It's now officially obsolete. So where are the old JooJoos going?

The first-generation, now officially obsolete, JooJoo tablet Rafe Needleman/CNET

A Fusion Garage spokesperson told me that the reason the JooJoos are being removed from the market is that there is actually a buyer (perhaps more than one), for the whole lot of leftover tablets. They're going to be repurposed into vertical-market equipment "like medical devices," I was told.

At this point, we don't know how much of the JooJoo operating system will survive on these new, non-consumer tablets. Nor do we know how many companies are involved in taking the old JooJoos off Fusion Garage's hands, or how many devices Fusion Garage is disposing of. For all we know, the buyers could be buying the tablets for parts.

The JooJoo ordering page is still up as of this writing, but won't be for long. Update: The company says all JooJoo purchases made before Friday, November 19 at 11:59 p.m. PST will be fulfilled. After that, the order form will go offline.

Fusion Garage still plans on releasing new Android-based devices for the consumer market next year. They won't be called JooJoo tablets.

Update 3:28 p.m. PT: I received a statement from Fusion Garage:

Fusion Garage will be announcing that it has expanded distribution channels via a vertical market reseller. Through the agreement, this reseller will customize Fusion Garage's first generation Internet tablet, joojoo, for corporate applications. Fusion Garage is also in discussions with other resellers and systems integrators to distribute joojoo in vertical markets such as medical, transportation, logistics and others that take advantage of its 12.1 inch form factor. The growing interest from vertical market resellers is anticipated to consume the remaining joojoo inventory by the end of this year. Fusion Garage remains committed to its joojoo customers and will continue to support the device. Additional information on customer support will be available in the coming weeks.